Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

At the foot of Yinshan Mountain, the once lush pastures were divided into countless squares overnight.

The cold wind howled, whipping up coal dust and straw clippings from the ground, slapping against the once arrogant faces now covered in dust. This place was no longer the paradise where the Turks galloped freely on horseback, but had become the first super-large open-air factory of the Tang Empire, built by "prisoners of war".

"Hurry up, all of you! Stop dawdling, haven't you eaten yet?"

An old soldier from the Beiwei Army brandished a whip, cracking it with a chilling sound. Pointing at the long line of burly Turkic men carrying coal baskets and trudging along, he roared like thunder: "His Highness said that if we don't dig enough coal today, the mutton soup for tonight will be replaced with cold water! Anyone who wants to go hungry can slack off!"

In the ranks, Ashina Tumen, the former Turkic commander, gritted his teeth, his knees trembling violently from the long hours of carrying the heavy load. The basket of coal he carried on his back weighed at least a hundred pounds, and the rough rattan cut into the flesh of his shoulders, drawing blood.

Once upon a time, he was an eagle soaring over the grasslands, a warrior riding a fierce horse and wielding a curved sword. In his eyes, the Han people were nothing more than two-legged sheep. But now, he has become an ant in this sunless mine, rising at dawn every day and working until late at night. This is the "blessing" that the Tang Dynasty prince spoke of.

"What 996... this is just pushing people to their limits!"

Tumen let out a desperate wail in his heart, but he dared not stop, because the Tang soldiers in black armor beside him were not to be trifled with, and the horizontal swords in their hands were not to be trifled with.

With the implementation of Li Chengqian's "labor reform" policy, the entire southern grassland seemed to be put on a crazy fast-forward.

Tens of thousands of strong Turkic prisoners of war were driven into open-pit coal and iron mines. They threw away their scimitars and picked up pickaxes, using the strength they originally used to kill to dig up the wealth buried deep underground. Meanwhile, the women and the elderly were concentrated in huge wool workshops, where they sheared wool, spun thread, and wove cloth day and night.

The entire grassland was devoid of pastoral songs, only the clanging of chisels and heavy breathing could be heard.

However, when pressure is pushed to its limit, a rebound will eventually occur.

The wolf's bones, after all, haven't been completely broken.

Late at night, in a corner of the mine.

Dozens of minor chieftains, originally from different tribes, quietly gathered together under the cover of night. Their eyes gleamed with hatred and madness, like wild beasts driven to the brink of despair.

"This can't go on!"

A bearded nobleman hissed in a low voice, clutching a sharpened stone tightly in his hand, "That little prince never intended for us to live! He wants to work us to death! To turn our flesh and blood into bricks and tiles for the Tang Dynasty!"

"Yes! He's rebelled!"

Another leader chimed in, his eyes gleaming with ferocity, "We still have tens of thousands of men! Although we're unarmed, we have hands and feet! As long as we charge out, seize the Tang army's horses, and we can fight our way back to the northern deserts and rise again!"

"At midnight tonight, we'll signal with a torch! Everyone, attack together, kill all the guards, steal horses, and break out!"

The flames of revenge burned fiercely in their hearts. They thought this was their last chance to survive, and that with their numerical advantage and surprise attack, they could at least tear open a gap in the defense.

Little did they know, on a nearby hill, a pair of lifeless eyes were coldly watching everything.

Bai Qi, clad in his dark red armor, stood silently in the cold wind, like an unchanging god of war. Behind him, the Iron Eagle warriors had already drawn their crossbows, the cold arrowheads gleaming with a ghostly blue light in the moonlight.

"Your Highness is right. Some bones are too hard and need to be broken before they can be used."

Bai Qi slowly drew his long spear from his waist, his movements as gentle as if he were stroking a lover's hair, but the words he uttered were colder than the night wind on the grassland.

"If a few of the ringleaders are being restless, then let's clean up the sheepfold."

"Give the order to begin."

"Remember, keep their heads. The wind chimes His Highness requested should be hung up now."

Just after midnight, a deafening roar of battle cries suddenly erupted from the mine.

The Turkic nobles who had plotted a rebellion, along with several thousand of their trusted followers, charged toward the defending camp like madmen. They brandished pickaxes, clubs, and even bit with their teeth, trying to carve a bloody path through the enemy using this primitive method.

However, what greeted them was not a panicked Tang army, but a torrent of black arrows surging in from all directions.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The trembling sound of the crossbows instantly drowned out the shouts of battle.

The rioters at the forefront fell in droves like wheat being harvested, their blood instantly staining the dark mine pit crimson. Immediately afterward, the Iron Eagle warriors drew their swords, forming a formidable battle formation, and advanced like a meat grinder.

This was a massacre with no suspense, and also a precise surgical cleansing.

Bai Qi gave them no chance to beg for mercy. All seven tribes involved in the rebellion, along with their leaders, were wiped out overnight.

Its daybreak.

When the surviving tens of thousands of prisoners cautiously stepped out of their work sheds, ready to begin a new day of labor, the sight before them instantly paralyzed them to the ground, and some even lost control of their bladders in fright.

At the entrance to the mine, hundreds of wooden poles stood tall.

On each wooden pole hung a bloody human head. Some heads had wide-open, angry eyes, while others had faces full of terror. They swayed gently in the morning breeze, making a "thump-thump" sound as they collided.

The sound was deep and eerie, like a wind chime in hell, striking the soul of every survivor.

Before that mountain of corpses and sea of ​​blood, Bai Qi sat on a large rock, slowly wiping the bloodstains from his long spear. He raised his head, his eyes, devoid of whites, sweeping over the trembling crowd before him, a cruel smile curling at the corner of his lips.

"Is anyone else feeling tired?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears: "Anyone who feels tired can stand up, and I'll take them to the Eternal Heaven to rest."

No one dared to speak.

No one even dared to breathe loudly.

At this moment, the backbone of the steppe wolf was finally broken completely.

Fear became the only faith on this land. They finally understood that the smiling young prince in Chang'an was the real devil; and the red-armored killing god before them was the devil's scythe.

Revolt?

That doesn't exist.

From that day on, the labor camps on the grasslands entered an unprecedentedly efficient operating mode.

No one dared to slack off anymore, no one dared to complain anymore. They were like a group of machines whose souls had been ripped out, mechanically and numbly wielding picks and shearing sheep, giving their all for that bowl of meat soup that could save their lives, for that elusive "Tang Dynasty household registration".

Truckloads of high-quality coal were continuously transported to the steel mills in Youzhou; bundles of pure white wool were sent to textile workshops in Chang'an; and herds of cattle and sheep were driven into the pass, becoming delicacies on the tables of the people of the Tang Dynasty.

This road to wealth, paved with the blood and sweat of the Turks, began to supply the Tang Dynasty with abundant resources.

Chang'an, Ganlu Palace.

Li Shimin held the quarterly report that the Ministry of Revenue had just sent over, and he was in a strange state of excitement.

He rubbed his eyes, thinking he had misread the number, and leaned closer to count the string of zeros at the end.

"This...how is this possible?"

Li Shimin's hands were trembling. He suddenly raised his head and looked at Dai Zhou, who was standing below him, also grinning from ear to ear.

"The revenue from the North these past few months... is equivalent to two years' worth of taxes from the Jiangnan region?!"

"The profits from wool and coal alone covered all the military expenses for this expedition, and even left over by two million strings of cash?!"

Dai Zhou, clutching his abacus, trembled with excitement: "Your Majesty! It's absolutely true! Those Turkic prisoners don't need to be paid, they eat very little, yet they work harder than oxen! This is a risk-free business!"

"His Highness the Crown Prince's 'labor reform' strategy is a stroke of genius! It not only resolved the border troubles but also completely overflowed the national treasury!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin felt his head buzzing.

He fought wars his whole life, always losing money but gaining prestige; when he won, he received rewards, and when he lost, he had to pay reparations.

But in the hands of that rebellious son, war actually became a business?

And it's a highly profitable business?!

"Robbing money...this is even faster than robbing money outright!"

Li Shimin slammed the report on the table, his mouth almost twisted with a grin. His naive, nouveau riche attitude was exactly the same as when Li Chengqian was counting money.

"Issue my decree! Order Huo Qubing to advance further north! Capture more people!"

"My Great Tang Dynasty still needs to build roads and open mines; we're short of manpower!"

"Tell Chengqian that this 'blessing' must be enjoyed by all the surrounding barbarians!"